created 1998-2001; 12 of 16 total images
(first series in triptych series [Side Unseen, Down the Backstretch, Equus & Venus] on women in the thoroughbred industry)
Artist’s Statement: Side Unseen
I took a job as a groom during the Keeneland November Sales in 1998. I had no previous experience with horses, but my life and my art were in a rut and I thought it would be beneficial, and fun, to do something completely different to help stimulate my muse. I was right!
Countless aspects of the horses, and the people who care for them, instantly moved me. I wanted to make work that considered their real lives.
Within a year, I began working full time at Constancia Farm, a broodmare operation near Lexington. As I went about my work, I photographed the resident herd, purposely avoiding the misleading ‘postcard’ images so many of us hold to be the truth about Kentucky Thoroughbreds. Those ‘pretty’ pictures held no spiritual or aesthetic value for me. Their daily routines, both horse and human, were what I sought.
After nearly two years I left the full time farm life, ironically, because of my chronic allergies to horses! Even though I’ve left the daily operations, I still photograph the people and horses connected to Constancia. This is only the beginning of a very personal body of work.
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